Tadeáš Podracký

About the lecture
In this lecture, Tadeáš Podracký presents a series of sculptural projects that explore how ideas of transformation and hybridisation can be explored through hands-on making and material experimentation. Beginning with Metamorphosis - a graduation project developed during the pandemic from discarded materials and driven by the search for an authentic, intuitive language - he traces a trajectory that continues through more recent works engaging with local folklore and mythology, reworking traditional stories into speculative sculptural forms carved from wood and other natural materials. Through these examples, Podracký reflects on how emotional engagement, physical experience, and personal fascination can become tools for design - and how an awareness of local cultural contexts can offer new ways of understanding the world we inhabit.

Bio
Tadeáš Podracký (b. 1989) is an artist working primarily in the fields of sculpture and design. His practice is grounded in sculptural skill and a direct engagement with material. After a series of works based on raw, expressive gestures and the use of discarded matter, he gradually shifted toward natural materials - mainly wood - and themes rooted in local narratives and material culture. His work has since evolved into organic forms reflecting an ongoing focus on transformation, material tension, and hybrid structures.

Merging intuitive handcraft with experimental technologies, Podracký explores how form can carry meaning beyond utility. His objects often reinterpret cultural motifs and everyday typologies, resulting in sculptural pieces that appear to have grown over time or emerged through ritual. His practice moves between fiction and function, nature and fabrication, engaging material as both a physical and symbolic agent.

He studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven and the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague, and also attended the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. His work has been presented internationally and is held in both private and institutional collections. Since 2023, he has been the head of the K.O.V. (Concept–Object–Meaning) studio at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague.